Change is for the Better
by Casey Mac
Summary: Just when Taryn Reed thought her life couldn't get worse she is moved halfway across the country to someplace she has never even heard of; Tree Hill, North Carolina. What happens when she is brought into the family of a certain basketball superstar and his musician/teacher wife?
1. Chapter 1

UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES

CHAPTER 1:

"Taryn Reed report to the principal's office. Taryn Reed to the principal." The announcement came over the loud speaker in P.H.S. 451 in Brooklyn, New York. Taryn was a freshman there. She did everything in her power to go completely unnoticed by everyone. She was a loner and that was exactly the way she liked it.  
"Fan-fucking-tastic. Now what?" Taryn grabs her books out of her locker and starts making her way to the office. She opens the glass door and walks over to the secretary.  
"I'm Taryn Reed."  
"Ah yes, Mr. Snyder would like to see you in his office." The secretary said. "He's waiting for you so you can go right in." Taryn thanks the lady and walks down the hall to the office. She knocks on the door and waits for a reply. "Enter," she hears. So she does. Once in the office, Taryn sees her social worker, Tracy Simmons, sitting in front of her principal's desk. 'This is never good.' She says to herself. 'What did I do now?' Taryn thought as she dropped her book bag to the floor and slouched in the chair in front of the desk. "Ah Taryn, have a seat. I was just talking with Ms. Simmons about what a lovely student you are."  
'You don't know me from Adam, dude. I have never been in your office before now.' The internal monologue in her head was running rampant now.  
"It seems to me that you won't be with us any longer. Which is a shame. We enjoyed having you as one of our students." Principal Snyder said. Now it was Tracy's turn to talk.  
"Taryn, as you know, the family that we were going to place you in had an unfortunate occurrence with a house fire. We had to make some last minute arrangements for you, but we did manage to get you into a group home in a smaller town."  
"So, is this town like one of the 'burbs or something?" Taryn asked. She has spent most of her life living in Brooklyn and had the attitude and accent to prove it.  
"Not exactly." Tracy told her. "The town is out of state."  
"Out of state? Are we talking Jersey? Because that really doesn't count." Taryn asked.  
"No. Actually where we got placement for you is a bit further south. As in North Carolina."  
"NORTH CAROLINA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! You can't do that! You can't move me half was across the country!" Taryn stood and started screaming at Tracy.  
"Taryn, I understand that you're upset, but there was really nothing we could do such last minute. It was the only place that had an opening for you. Your flight leaves this afternoon." Tracy thought that breaking the news all at once would be like ripping off a band aid. It would hurt for a little bit at the beginning. But Taryn wasn't having any of that. She was super mad.  
"This afternoon? What the hell?! Do I even get a say when it comes to where I'm living?! Can't you send me somewhere upstate? You can't send me south! That's so not fair." Taryn slumped back down in her chair.  
"Taryn, we're going to need you to leave school early. You need to pack your things that way you can make it to the airport on time. We're leaving right now. Go to your locker and get all your things. Leave your books. Someone will take care of them for you." Taryn got up, grabbed her bag and stomped out of the office. Tracy was right behind her. As she was walking down the hallway, she started thinking about how everything in her life had played out up until now. She was put in the system when she was 5 because her mom died and she had no living relatives. She remembered bits and pieces of her parents. She remembered that they loved her a lot and would always do things with her like take her ice skating or to the zoo. And then one day, they went to dinner with friends and left her with the babysitter and never came back. She didn't find out until she was 12 that her parents died in a car accident. It was winter and they were hit by a drunk driver. It was a hit and run and they never found the driver of the other car. So she moved in with a foster family in upstate New York before she was placed in Brooklyn. She'd been living here for the past 2 years and was almost starting to enjoy it. She still had a really hard time opening up and trusting people. This was the longest time she had ever stayed in one place. The family wasn't all that bad. They usually just left her alone which was just fine with her. She preferred it that way. Then she wouldn't have to talk about her feelings or what she was thinking. But now she had to move to some town in North Carolina that she had never even heard of. She was a city girl. There was no way she was going to move to a little podunk town in the middle of bum fuck Egypt. Besides, if she just bid her time, she would eventually be moved back to New York. And then she can get back to being New Yorker. She was emptying out her locker of her personal items that she actually wanted to keep. Otherwise she was going to throw out the other stuff anyway. So it made her job easier.  
"Taryn, if we want to catch your plane, we have to leave right now to make sure that we can go and get your clothes." Tracy told her. So Taryn slammed her locker door closed and turned around to face Tracy. "So let's go then." Taryn snapped and started walking out of the building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2. Review, comment, follow, and favorite. Thanks! :)**

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CHAPTER 2:

Taryn and Tracy pulled up in front of the apartment complex that Taryn had called home for the last 2 years. Tracy paid the cab driver and they got out. They would have taken the subway but it would have taken too long. Taryn ran up the steps to the front door of the building and said hi to the doorman. He let them in and they took the old service elevator to the 5th floor. Once on the 5th floor, she went to 5F. She took out her keys and for the last time, opened the door. It only took her about 20 minutes to get all of her things. She threw them into an old army pack. She took one last look around the apartment and then left with her head held high. "Ready?" Tracy asked as she came out.  
"As I'll ever be." Taryn replied and started walking back down the hall to the elevator. Once they reached the ground level, Tracy handed Taryn money for a cab and her plane ticket.  
"I'm sorry I won't be able to come with you but there will be another social worker waiting for you when you land. The nice thing is that you will have a direct flight into Wilmington International so you won't have to worry about a layover. Anyway, I hope you have a safe flight. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me. I'll make sure to get in touch with the appropriate people." Taryn just stood there and looked at Tracy. After she was done talking, Taryn took the money and ticket and went and grabbed a cab. Once a cab pulled up, Taryn turned and looked at Tracy.  
"Thanks for everything. Really." Taryn said and then the cab drove away. Taryn grabbed out her iPod and put on her headphones. The first thing that started playing was 'Lies' by Billy Talent. Fitting, she thought. _Forced conversation, Hidden agenda, you think we're stupid, how dare you, the rug has not been pulled over our eyes you fool, we can see right through. _  
The cab pulled up to the terminal entrance, and Taryn found a stewardess with a sign with her name on it. "Are you Taryn?" She asked.  
"Yes." Taryn answered.  
"Hi, I'm Lisa. I'll be traveling with you. I know that it may not be ideal, but since you're a minor you need to travel with an adult. I'm just going to get you through security and then I'll see you again on the plane. Is that ok?" Lisa asked.  
"Uh, yeah. I mean, I guess. I've never flown before so that would actually be helpful." Taryn told her.  
"Ok, well let's get going then. Where is the rest of your luggage?"  
"This is it." Taryn told her.  
"Oh, well is there anything in there that you would like to put in your backpack? It's the right size for a carry on." Lisa told her.  
"Um well what kind of stuff do you put in your carry on?"  
"An extra change of clothing or two, maybe your iPod, a couple books or magazines, and your wallet. And anything else that you want to keep with you. You don't have to take them out right now. You can do that once we get inside and you're waiting in line for security." Lisa informed Taryn. "Have you ever flown before?"  
"No. Haven't really needed to." Taryn told her. "I've never been out of New York before."  
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Lisa replied brightly.  
Lisa grabbed Taryn's bag and helped her carry it into the terminal. Once they got inside, Lisa put Taryn's bag on the floor. "If there is anything that you need or want while you're on the flight, now would be the time to take it out of your bag. I suggest anything that you would want to read or listen to, along with an extra change of clothes or two. Also, any personal items that you will need." Taryn did as she was told, and grabbed a few things that she thought were important. After that, they went and checked her in and dropped off her luggage.  
"Now, your flight doesn't leave for another hour and a half. So if you're hungry, there are numerous places inside the terminal to eat. Just pick one. I have to go and check in with my flight crew. I can try and come back out and walk in with you if you would like me too. Otherwise, just listen for your row to be called and line up behind everyone else." Lisa waited for a reply.  
"I guess I'll just wait to be called." Taryn told her.  
"Ok, well I'll just be off then. If you need me for any reason, just go up to the gate attendant and tell them that you would like to speak with me. They will know how to get in touch with me. I'll see you on the plane." Lisa smiled at Taryn and then left her to her own devices. Taryn's backpack was her carry on. She had 2 changes of clothes, some books, her iPod, laptop, mini mixing board, wallet and plane ticket. She even had some money left over from the cab ride. She figured she could go get something to eat with that money and if she had any left over, go and buy a souvenir or something in the gift shop that would remind her of New York. She decided on Quizno's for lunch. After she ate, she went and waited at her gate for her plane. After about 15 minutes, people started coming down the gangplank and into the terminal.  
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, American Airlines flight 105 to Tree Hill, North Carolina will be boarding shortly. Once the flight attendants have finished in the plane, we can start boarding." The gate attendant said over the loud speaker. Taryn had taken off one headphone so that she could hear the announcement. After it was done, she put her headphones back on and went back to writing in her note book.  
_"….of all the things that I will miss most about living in New York. I will miss being able to just jump on the subway and go wherever I want to , not having to worry about how I'm going to pay to get there. I'm most definitely not going to miss going back to that stupid apartment. I hated it there. I was so much smarter than everyone else. I mean, I'm going to miss New York because I'm from here. But who knows, maybe I might actually like it in this Tree Hill place. I am definitely going to miss playing ball in the afternoons with the guys down at the park. Oh, there's my flight. Here goes nothing."_  
"Now boarding flight 105 to Tree Hill. We'll start in the back of the plane. Rows 20-26." Taryn grabbed her stuff. She was in row 19. So she figured she'd be next. She got up and gathered her things to start walking over to the line. After about 5 minutes, "Now boarding rows 15-19. Please have your boarding passes out and ready to go. Thank you." Taryn grabbed out her pass and held it in her hand. She made her way to the front of the line.  
"Boarding pass." Taryn held hers out to the gate attendant. The gate attendant scanned it and handed it back to her. "Have a safe flight."  
Taryn made her way down the gangplank toward the door of the plane. Once she got on the plane, she found her row and her seat and sat down. Within a minute, Lisa came over. "Hey! So I see you made it on ok. I'm glad. We should be ready for takeoff in the next 10 minutes or so. So just hang tight and we'll get going."  
Taryn was having fun just being somewhere new. There were so many different people to see or listen too. Especially in a city as big as New York. They had flights coming and going from everywhere in the world.  
"Alright, folks. This is your captain speaking. All of the passengers heading to Tree Hill have boarded. The flight attendants are closing the door and we are almost all set for takeoff. We are just waiting for the all clear from the tower and then we'll be on our way. Thank you for flying with American Airlines."  
Taryn was still listening to her headphones. One of the other flight attendants came over. "Excuse me. You're going to have to put those away." The attendant told Taryn in a harsh tone. Taryn just looked up at her.  
"Put those away. Are you deaf or something?" Taryn was in the process of taking off her headphones when she made the second comment. Just as she was about to come up with a rude remark, Lisa walked over.  
"Is there a problem here?" Before Taryn could respond, the other attendant said  
"Yes, this girl won't take off her headphones and put them away." Lisa looked at Taryn.  
"Taryn?"  
"I was in the process of taking them off before this grump decided that I wasn't moving fast enough. Granted I've never flown before, but according to every movie that I've seen, you have a few minutes between when the door closes and when we actually take off. So I'm going to go back to me putting them away because you asked, oh, so nicely." Taryn finished taking off her headphones and carefully wrapped them up before putting them back into her bag. The other flight attendant just stomped off in a huff.  
"Well, I guess that solves that." Lisa said. "She's a real bitch on none of us like her. We keep trying to get her fired and one of these times, it will work."  
Taryn laughed. "Eh, I kind of liked her."  
It was Lisa's turn to laugh. "I'll see you later. If you need anything, push the light and I'll come over."  
Taryn settled back into her seat next to the window and just started out at the terminal. This was actually happening. She was leaving New York to go and try and fit in somewhere on the other side of the country. Well almost. It was the farthest move that she had ever had to make. She was nervous.  
"Hello again. This is your captain speaking. On behalf of the crew, my copilot and myself, I want to thank you for flying on American. We have just received the all clear from the tower, so if you would kindly turn your attention to the flight attendants, they have some important safety precautions they would like to go over with you." Taryn already had her seat belt buckled so she only half paid attention to the announcements. As the plane taxied backwards out of the dock and down the runway, she got that excited feeling in the pit of her stomach. You know, the one you get right before you take the big drop on a roller coaster.

Within a few more minutes, the plane was safely in the air and Taryn was on her way south.


End file.
